I know you should never say never but I doubt they would be able to get there hands on BD, firstly because of DOT hurdles and of course I am sure a certain airline like LH would have a say in the matter as well!
I wonder if they do pursue the tie up with AA what is the likely amount of slots they might have to reliquish at LHR as a result of that??
Very interesting times ahead!

Sounds more like reapplying for anti-trust immunity. Quote from the article

Quote:It also said that BA was considering a renewed attempt to merge with American Airlines (AMR.N: Quote, Profile, Research), despite two previous attempts being struck down by competition regulators.

BA and AA applied twice for anti-trust immunity, which were both denied.

Quoting Ha763 (Reply 3):BA and AA applied twice for anti-trust immunity, which were both denied.

I dont think the last attempt was deniued at all, IIRC, it was in fact, approved subject to loosing a lot of slots at LHR. BA/AA decided tht thios was not an option.

With OS the market is now free to fly into LHR. I suppose BA could put up a better argument as to why it should not loose slots.

Quoting ANother (Reply 4):A merger would not be legal under US law. US airlines must substantially owned and effectively controlled by US citizens. Also CEO and majority of Board members must be US citizens.

This was my understanding too, however, there is nothing to stop BA owing 49.9% of the equity and just 25% of the voting rights.....I dont think.

Hopefully. We all wanted "fortress" LHR opened up and it finally happened! I think the tie-up of AF/KLM and the recent AF/KLM Skyteam "merger" would be a good precedent. And maybe the price to pay would'nt be as much as the benefits.

BTW, could the BA terminal and AA terminal at JFK be joined?? I know they're next to each other but I seem to remember there's a road that cuts right through them.

Quoting ANother (Reply 4):A merger would not be legal under US law. US airlines must substantially owned and effectively controlled by US citizens. Also CEO and majority of Board members must be US citizens.

I thought a future softening (or removal?) of this law was an understanding under the open skies agreement with the EU?

Quoting Scotron11 (Reply 8):BTW, could the BA terminal and AA terminal at JFK be joined?? I know they're next to each other but I seem to remember there's a road that cuts right through them.

The two terminals can't be joined but why would they even want to, AA's JFK terminal has plenty of room for expansion. The Terminal is built only halfway to it's original scope, it was originally envisioned as a 55 gate mega Terminal. When all the construction is done it will have only 39 gates and about half the square footage, building the Terminal out to it's full design would provide plenty of gate, ticketing and lounge areas for BA.

Quoting Scotron11 (Reply 8):BTW, could the BA terminal and AA terminal at JFK be joined?? I know they're next to each other but I seem to remember there's a road that cuts right through them

Well they are kinda connected already with the JFKskyrail transit system. However building a simple bridge/walkway system past secutrity for simple transfers could be done. I wont be though in my opinion.

Speak of AA's new terminal in JFK, when will they get rid of that mess which is terminal 8??
They could then expand the mega terminal proplery and include enough heavy gates for BA also and allow them to operate underone roof. However I think if this was ever going to happen then i beleive they would have to make it a Oneworld terminal which would involve a lot of movement at JFK as CX,JAL,(RJ?),LA,IB,(QF?) operate also into JFK.

In my opinion with people wanting better/easier connections this should be done, and if they can build a special train just for OW at LHR to operate from T3-T5 that would make the transfer a little bit less stressful